Why Vision-S and Sony Announce Electricity

The VISION-S Prototype is an electric vehicle prototype announced by Sony during CES 2020. It was created by Sony as a prototype to accumulate car-related know-how and knowledge, and is being developed in cooperation with companies such as Bosch, Continental, Nvidia, and Qualcomm.

Among Sony’s semiconductor technologies, CMOS sensors are the most well-known, but this vehicle is equipped with a safety device that combines camera image recognition technology and sensor technologies such as radar and lidar. It is a combination of sensors with different characteristics. For example, it improves safety, such as capturing obstacles that are difficult to detect with only camera images. On the outside of the vehicle, a vehicle-specific camera, including 33 sensors, is added to recognize the occupant’s face and body to ensure that it is in a safe state.

In the case of entertainment, it has a horizontally long ultra-display so that you can enjoy not only information display but also movie-like content while driving. It supports 360 Realty Audio, Sony’s virtual surround technology, allowing the interior of the vehicle to be used as a wonderful acoustic space.

For the 5G era, this vehicle can maintain an Internet connection at all times, and like Tesla, it supports OTA system updates so that the latest environment is always maintained.

Electric vehicles that will be distributed in the future are expected to enter many other companies as well as existing gasoline vehicle manufacturers because the drive unit has a simple structure. In addition, autonomous driving technology development, image processing, AI and IT technologies are also becoming important. In the midst of such environmental changes, Sony is making products such as CMOS image sensors, semiconductors, and radars, and is securing some competitiveness in fields such as communications and entertainment. It can be said that Sony’s making cars is due to this change. Sony’s car announcement shows that one of the CES 2020 trends, barriers by sector, are breaking down. It means that Hyundai’s competitors may no longer be just places like Mercedes and Audi. Related information can be found here .